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"The Road Less Traveled: How Corporate Directors Could be Held Individually Liable in Sweden for Corporate Atrocity Crimes Abroad", 13 Nov 2018
On 18 October 2018, the Swedish Government authorized the Swedish Prosecution Authority to proceed to prosecution in a case regarding activities of two corporate directors within Swedish oil company Lundin Oil, and later within Lundin Petroleum, in Sudan (now South Sudan) between 1998 and 2003. The company’s chief executive and chairman could be charged with aiding and abetting gross crimes against international law...The case has the potential of furthering accountability of corporate actors for their involvement in international crimes abroad...
The slowly growing body of case-law from domestic courts on atrocity crimes in relation to corporations provides an opportunity for the legal community to gain a better understanding of the concept of corporate criminal liability, individual and organizational. The potential ending of impunity as domestic courts tentatively take this road less traveled also raises the hope of future restitution and compensation for victims. To survivors of atrocity crimes, that could make all the difference.
Part of the following timelines
Sweden authorises indictment of Lundin Oil executives over alleged complicity in war crimes in So. Sudan; co. denies allegations
Ian Lundin, former Lundin Energy executive, was cross-examined at Stockholm District Court in December 2024 and January 2025 in the ongoing trial against him, another former executive, and the company for alleged complicity in war crimes.
Fourteen South Sudanese war crime victims testified at Stockholm District Court from May to September 2024 in the ongoing trial against Lundin Energy and two former executives for alleged complicity in war crimes.
The Stockholm District Court ruled that it will not hear claims brought by South Sudanese plaintiffs in the Lundin trial. While the court held that the plaintiffs could bring each bring a separate civil suit against the defendants, the potential legal costs associated with such an action render this impossible.
"On Tuesday 5 September, the Lundin war crimes trial opens at the Stockholm District Court. The Swedish prosecution will present the case against Ian Lundin, Alex Schneiter and Orrön Energy, the new name for Lundin Energy..."
"The long-awaited trial of two former executives of Swedish oil company Lundin begins in Stockholm on September 5. Alex Schneiter and Ian Lundin are charged with complicity in war crimes committed over 20 years ago in what is now South Sudan..."
The trial of Lundin’s former executives will start on 5 September 2023. They have been charged with complicity in war crimes in Sudan between 1999 and 2003.
The Lundin trial is of great significance for the hundreds of thousands of survivors of war crimes committed during the civil war in South Sudan. Furthermore, the trial could also set an important precedent and thereby strengthen the rules that protect human rights from abuse through companies - especially in the context of armed conflict.
After the investigation into the Lundin criminal case was opened in June 2010, the Stockholm District Court now released a timetable for the trial. The two defendants and the company are accused of having supported gross and systematic international crimes in Sudan. The 220 scheduled court days make it the longest trial in Swedish history.
"The lawyers supporting the victims of obstruction of justice were dismissed by the Stockholm District Court... In 2018, a criminal investigation was opened into bribery, threats and acts of violence against witnesses in the Lundin war crimes case...The prosecutor disagrees with the court’s decision."
"On January 11, the Stockholm District Court decided that the trial should begin in September this year. Two days later the court rejected the prosecutor’s petition to hold more pre-trial hearings. Meanwhile the defence filed several complaints arguing that the indictment is too vague."
"The Supreme Court of Sweden confirmed on 10 November, 2022, that Sweden can prosecute Lundin’s former CEO Alex Schneiter. The decision ensures that Sweden continues to honour the principle of universal jurisdiction"
"The Supreme Court has ruled that the Swedish court has jurisdiction to hear the prosecution of a Swiss former representative of Lundin Oil for complicity in alleged war crimes in Sudan."
"The District Court has decided to resume the planning of the trial against Ian Lundin, Alex Schneiter and Lundin Energy AB. Ian Lundin and Lundin/Orrön Energy responded with an appeal to the Court to reject the indictment for failing to properly describe the alleged crimes..."
"Alex Schneiter has appealed the court’s latest decision that Sweden can try him for aiding and abetting war crimes in Sudan. If the Supreme Court accepts his argument, it will have wide-reaching consequences on Sweden’s ability to try war criminals."
On 11 November 2021, Sweden's public prosecutor brought charges against the chairman and former CEO of Lundin Energy for alleged complicity in war crimes carried out by the Sudanese army and allied militia in southern Sudan from 1999 to 2003.
"The public prosecutor...has formally indicted Ian Lundin and Alex Schneiter for complicity in grave war crimes in Sudan from 1999 to 2003...[He] argues that the accused, in different ways, were complicit in war crimes. It is this complicity that is now under indictment."